Hello again! Welcome to the fifth edition of ‘Zenrei’s Zone’, a newsletter dedicated to creation and contemplation. This month there’s poems, some thoughts on poetry and beats.
Enjoy and thank you for reading! Any support, from sharing to subscribing, is deeply appreciated.
Two poems
I am now off antidepressants after a hard taper and eight months, and I feel like a very different person. Here is a poem about the feelings I had as the taper was in full force:
Sparrow
i saw a sparrow
swallow
the sun today,
et it whole
and of course it struggled, poor thing
its staccato soar,
failed flutter
spluttered warm worms resting
in-between the ba-dum of its call:
‘what was that song at the funeral?’
sertraline: i’ve learned to sew
slipknotted sadness
the same way
the sparrow swallows the sun;
seeing sense, embroidering empathy
onto a patchwork of clashing colours.
13 april 2023
&
And here’s another for a soldier from my village killed in action in WWI. This poem has also been set to music for my new EP Anthems: Roots of Astland, which releases 21st May and is now available to pre-order on Bandcamp (pre-order includes early access listen):
For Private John Iddon of Tarleton
The great deeds of small men
Often rise high into a tepid blue sky,
As does a church spire in a bucolic hook,
Crawling, like Babel, for the Lord to look.
The sweet mist of a January afternoon was known to you,
Our canal’s water was peace of mind,
What thought you when those bullets leapt past
And left these village scenes behind?
Did you, clutching a Lee-Enfield,
Scurry towards death,
And soft or slowly rasping, did you
Draw your final breath?
If, in those final moments,
Drunk from ambrosia’s wine,
You heard the waif of village life,
Wrapped in heaven’s vines.
If, treading newer footsteps,
Close to mine entwined,
You’d claim back what you once left behind,
Of bracken, grass and kine.
Well, words are but a headstone,
Not baptism by fire,
But I will sing for you, my lad,
Upon my village lyre.
2017
Navigating the gulf
I’ve been thinking about something recently. My writing has grown more opaque over the years, and I recently understood why through a great essay called Hatred of Poetry that I read. The writer points to the hatred he experiences in the discrepancy between the virtual world of the poem and its necessarily inadequate transcription into our world.
For me, opacity is a response to the gulf between the poem as it is and the poem as the poet translates it to the world and word. It makes that gulf jarr ever so slightly less. And if you manage to bridge it, which I think is the goal, then for a moment, you hold this sweet, gentle understanding in-between your thumb and finger.
I am now beginning to try and submit poems to magazines and so on, so I’m collecting feedback and working on finding a balance between the written and the wrought, or the poetic world and the pragmatic world, opacity and clarity. Any thoughts would be of great interest to me! I’m also considering starting a poetry podcast, so keep eyes and ears peeled, and let me know if you know any poets.
Soundtracks
This section is dedicated to beats I’ve been making and things I’ve been listening to.
January’s ‘Approach’ video for anyone who didn’t see it, directed by Tahra:
I’ve been studying this:
Some of this month’s beats. I need to learn to arrange properly now!
Rise and Fall (5 May):
Features a reversed female vocal sample from a French hip-hop record I picked up in Paris. Happy with the heavier style to this and tighter drums, just needs cleaning up and arranging well.
Amen (6 May):
Features a reversed female vocal sample from a take for another song by Tahra. Love the old school feel here. Again, arrangement.
Obsolescence (early April):
This was the first beat I made that I wrote to - quite a barebones and stark one.
Visual vaults
‘Bars Across Borders’, linograph by Beth
Thank you for reading! Any sharing is appreciated, as are subscriptions and so on. I’ll be releasing another Zenrei’s Zone this month to celebrate my EP release.
Love,
Zenrei